As summer approaches the Silver Ladder has its monthly caucus. In addition to the usual minutia, Pispir announces a new member, his provost Father Luke. Decima promotes Athaliah to Claviger to Pispir's consternation. Finally the issue of the ever growing spiritual problems comes up. The Gauntlet is thinning and disappearances among the mortals are becoming prevalent. The Ebon Cross investigates.
As they begin their investigation they learn the activity has been centered around the city's subway system and a nearby school. Valkyrie worried about the fact that Evan attends that school steers the investigation there first. 3 children have disappeared there, though one escaped with strange tales of a distorted world. The children likely stumbled through a verge into Shadow.
With this in mind, Mammon opens a gateway into Shadow. They then travel to the reflection of the school where in the large playground they find a single abstract spirit of children. The Child Herder has been playing hide and seek with the children for days. With its help they find one child, Bobby, hiding in the school.
After Adele and Valkyrie calm the boy, he tell them what happened to Annie, the other child. The young girl has become feral and hungry for flesh. He point them to the nearby woods. There they find a fox spirit attempting to kill the wild girl. They easily beat it off. With effort (and some nasty bites) they manage to get Annie, calmed down. She has become almost an animal with sharp teeth and claws. They determine the child has been infected with some shadow disease and is infused with predatory resonance.
While Colt distracts the Child Farmer with hide and seek (and later tag), the others exit Shadow and take the children back to the sanctum. After calling Athaliah they are able to remove the memories of the children and learn how to cure Annie. They begin to starve the child and return Bobby to his parents.
While Mammon and Colt (who escaped through the verge) drive the disease out of Annie, the others investigated the verge with Miguel. Miguel confirms that this is where he recently fought some Rat Hosts. The verge is getting wider, indicating there are other rats that are expanding the damage. At Adele's urging, Miguel turns into a black cat and begins to follow the scent. The trail leads from the playground to an apartment complex a short distance away.
At the apartment Adele and Valkyrie knock. As soon as the woman inside opened the door, Miguel darts in. As he races to the back room, the woman tries to catch him. Meanwhile the children who were there (playing with a rat named Harry and his friends) panic. Miguel shifts into a giant monstrous cat scaring the mortals silly. Miguel races out leaving the Mages to pick up the pieces.
Valkyrie finds her son Evan there visiting, while Adele investigates a child who is acting odd. Calling her cabalmate over (and using the wrong name), they find the child, an asthmatic named Tom, has a resonance of rat about his heart and his body resonants with death. They investigate the blood on his stomach and find a gaping hole there. The child attempts to flee, but they corner him in a back room. Adel meanwhile investigates the children's room where she manages to kill one of the Beshilu with Merlin's help. Valkyrie binds the sickly child Tom and reaches into the hole, pulling out a squealing rodent. Disgusted she kills the thing.
Meanwhile Miguel returns to catch Harry, Hazel's pet. As Hazel flees the cat and the child's mother chases the cat, the others look on in horror. Eventually Miguel catches and kills Harry, fleeing out a window. They call for an ambulance while Adele makes sure that Tom appears to have died of a simple asthma attack.